I tell the master's students in the student affairs program that they are unlikely to find anyone as good at cover letters as I am. I don't know that I believe I have a lot unsurpassable skills, but I do believe that when it comes to writing a good cover letter.
As for writing academic cover letters... Well, I'm still new enough at this faculty thing that I'm learning about that. In my experience faculty searches are different from practitioner searches. That's probably another post for another time (or another book for another year in my career), but there are a few similarities. One is that you should never use the words "I believe" in a cover letter. It weakens your assertion. The reader knows you believe it, or you wouldn't have written it.
Instead of, "I believe I will be successful in this role because of my experience with..." simply state, "I will be successful in this role because of my experience with..."
The article below provides some other good guidance for those of you preparing yourselves for academic job searches. Best of luck.
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